THE MEN WHO MADE ‘DOC HOLLIDAY’S REVENGE’, PLUS ‘SPAGHETTI WESTERN’ LUNCH!

This past Tuesday, ‘DOC HOLLIDAY’S REVENGE’ was released for rent and sale, and streaming on Amazon Instant Video.  It’s from producers Barry Barnholtz and Jeffrey Schenck, who previously brought you ‘WYATT EARP’S REVENGE’, and while it’s not a sequel, they are somewhat interrelated  – think how Lippert Films teamed I SHOT JESSE JAMES and I SHOT BILLY THE KID, or JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN’S DAUGHTER and BILLY THE KID VERSUS DRACULA.  On second thought, don’t think of that second pair.

Actually, HOLLIDAY and EARP share some of the same real characters, and both movies focus on documented but not well-known incidents in the lives of their subjects.  But it wasn’t the history that initially suggested the story to screenwriter Rolfe Kanefsky.  It was current events.  Kanefsky, who has 37 writing and 22 directing credits, had just completed his script of BONNIE & CLYDE: JUSTIFIED, for the same producing team, and director David DeCoteau, when the HOLLIDAY story occurred to him.  His original title was STAND YOUR GROUND. 

ROLFE KANEFSKY:  It deals with Doc Holliday, the events after the shootout at the O.K. Corral, and the killing of his brother, Morgan Earp, which led to the hunt for the men responsible, on Wyatt Earp’s vendetta run.  It follows two stories that parallel and then interconnect.  Frank Stilwell, Pete Spence, Indian Charlie and a few others were charged with the murder (but were currently at large). 

Frank Stilwell in real life had some brothers and sisters.  What I created was a story where his long-lost sister and brother and father are trying to get together with him for a family reunion at Pete Spence’s ranch in Arizona.  Frank Stilwell is on the run, and gunning for Wyatt Earp.  When the family meets up, trying to reconnect, Indian Charlie, on the run after the murder, shows up at Pete Spence’s place, wounded, and they bring him in; but they don’t know who he is or what’s going on.  And Doc Holliday shows up to kill Indian Charlie, and get information on where the rest of the gang is.  At that point the family has to decide who is the good guy, and who is the bad guy, and do they give Indian Charlie up.  And is Doc Holliday working for the U.S. Marshall’s office, because there’s a posse looking for Holliday at this point.  Is he acting as a lawman or a vigilante?  We know Indian Charlie is a bad guy, but who makes the decision of what’s right and what’s wrong. 

The reality is Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp got Indian Charlie to confess before they killed him.   In many ways, the story is symbolic of the ‘Stand Your Ground’ Trayvon Martin thing that (happened) in Florida, the whole ‘use of deadly force’ question.   I took a fictionalized but real account in the history of the old west, and made it a contemporary analogy for what’s going on today.  William McNamara plays Doc.  His most famous role, he starred in CHASERS, the Dennis Hopper (directed) film with Tom Berenger. He was the killer in COPYCAT, with Sigourney Weaver.   He was also in Dario Argento’s OPERA – he’s the guy who gets stabbed through the throat.  Eric Roberts is playing Frank Stilwell’s father.  The young actress who was sort of introduced with BONNIE & CLYDE, Ashley Hayes, she plays the young sister of Frank Stilwell.  For a western, she winds up being the strongest character in the whole piece; sort of the focal point, which is unusual. 

The scenes with her and Doc Holliday are really where you get into what’s right and what’s wrong.  At one point he says to her, “Sometimes the only way to stop a bad man with a gun, is a good man with a gun.”  And she says, “Yeah, but who gets to decide who’s the good man and who’s the bad man?”  “In this situation, it’s me.”  And you can take whatever side you want on the issue.  It does imply that the legal system doesn’t always work.  And, especially in the old west, if more people were convicted of certain crimes they couldn’t hold them on, then people might not have taken these personal vendettas, and there wouldn’t have been so much bloodshed. I think (the story) became much more powerful, definitely influenced by the events that were going on at the time. And it’s the first time I’ve ever written a western. 

When I discussed the project with Rolfe, it was several months ago.  The film was largely in the can (on the chip?), but there were still a few more days to shoot, and one major role had yet to be cast.  I spoke to director David DeCoteau just a week before the film’s release.  David is an astonishingly prolific director, with 115 feature films to his credit.  He’s best known for his horror films like CREEPOZOIDS and PUPPET MASTER III, but he’s also done tons of crime films, family pictures, campy comedies, Christmas romances, and a couple of talking animal films. 

DAVID DECOTEAU: I’m really proud of the movie; I’m really proud of the whole project. 

HENRY PARKE: How long did you shoot it?

DAVID DECOTEAU: (Laughs) I’m really not supposed to say.  But call it a  Monogram or P.R.C. shooting schedule, and I’m sure the people who read the Round-up will probably know what that means. 

HENRY PARKE:  I know you’ve often given credit to a pair of legendary producers for helping you start your career, Roger Corman and Charles Band.  How did you meet them, and how did they influence you?

DAVID DECOTEAU: I was writing fan-letters to Roger Corman when I was a teenager (in Portland, 

Oregan), and his assistant at the time was Gale Ann Hurd, who went on to be a big-time producer( TERMINATOR, ALIENS, THE WALKING DEAD). She said, “Look, if you ever come to Los Angeles I’ll set up a meeting – you should really meet Roger.”  I came down to L.A. when I was 16, and he took a meeting with me, for a couple of hours.  He was very sweet, very helpful.  I think he was impressed with me.  He said, ‘Whenever you I move to L.A. I’ll put you to work.’  I ended up moving to L.A. when I was 18.  He put me on a movie called GALAXY OF TERROR as a production assistant.  It was an interesting group of people.  Bill Paxton (TITANIC, APOLLO 13) was a carpenter on the set. James Cameron (director of TITANIC, AVATAR) was the art director.  We were all just starting our careers.  I was only with him for four or five months.  To move up you had to work there for years.  So I moved on, and worked for Wim Wenders, Ken Russell.  Then I got some money together and directed my first feature, which was DREAMANIAC (1986).  It was a nice little first movie, but it was enough to get me going.  It was during the VHS explosion.  They needed you to make a lot of movies back then, and I did.  Not just horror movies; I worked in all the genres.  It was Charlie Band who cofinanced that movie with me, and it worked out quite nicely.  I worked with him on and off for several years with various companies. 

I did direct an all-female (sci-fi)western actually, called PETTICOAT PLANET (1996).  Which I shot in Romania on the sets of OBLIVION (1994)which my friend Sam Irvin was directing – we shot on the same sets.  It was funny and sexy and campy, and a lot of fun.  They still had western props and wardrobe from a western made in the ‘70s.  It’s interesting how there have been so many westerns made all over the world.  Obviously Spain, Italy, Israel.  I’ve worked with a lot of actors who’ve done western in the past.  I directed James Coburn in a film called SKELETONS.  And just recently the western genre has really taken off.  I don’t know if I’d callBONNIE & CLYDE: JUSTIFIED a western…

HENRY PARKE:  It’s got a lot of the same rural appeal. 

DAVID DECOTEAU:  I did it for Lionsgate, and Barry Barnholtz seemed happy with it, and they 

offered me DOC HOLLIDAY’S REVENGE.  But I had developed the script on my own as a very small, contained western drama.  I didn’t want a lot of action.  I wanted a character piece with a very small cast.  We had the role of the judge that still needed to be shot.  We’d shot everything with Eric Roberts and Robert McNamara, and some young actors, Ashley Hayes, Oliver Rayon, Randy Burrell, all actors I’ve worked with.  But I still needed the judge, so I called Merle Haggard.  So I closed the deal with Merle Haggard, but then there was a death in his family, and he really could not find the time to do it.  Which was unfortunate because I had grown up on Merle Haggard’s music.  So I ended up going to Tom Berenger.  I shot Tom Berenger’s scene in South Carolina.  The majority of the film was shot at the old Cecil B. DeMille movie ranch.  It’s now called Indian Springs Movie ranch, but it’s an old movie ranch from the silent days.  I spent another day shooting with William McNamara in another movie ranch in Canyon Country; did a lot of wide vista shots.

HENRY PARKE:  I did see the Vasquez Rocks come in there.

DAVID DECOTEAU: Yuh, we had a couple of shots of Vasquez Rock and Bronson Caves as well.  I tried to populate the movie with as many iconic western locations as I could find. 

HENRY PARKE:  I’d talked to Rolfe Kanefsky a few months ago, about how the Trayvon Martin case was the impetus for DOC HOLLIDAY, which was originally STAND YOUR GROUND.  How did one real event influence the dramatizing of another real event?

DAVID DECOTEAU: It’s all Rolfe.  Rolfe is a very gifted writer, who does a lot of research, especially with telling true stories.  He’d just come off BONNIE & CLYDE, where he’d had to do a lot of research there.  And he found this story, and it just rang true to him, because what was going on in the news was the whole Trayvon Martin story, and it was shockingly similar.  And even though it was a period western, he thought it was timely to tell this story.  I thought it was a clever idea as well.

HENRY PARKE: Despite the ‘all characters are imaginary’ boilerplate at the end of the movie, Doc Holliday, the Stillwells and Florentino Cruz, alias Indian Charlie are certainly real, and the plot is based on fact.  Why did you choose to tell this story out of Doc’s life?

DAVID DECOTEAU: Well, we had not seen it before, and we thought it would be clever.  And I wanted to do something intimate, rather than an epic western.  Rolfe is a director as well, and he always writes movies from a director’s point of view.  And especially from working in independent, modestly budgeted genre pictures, he knows how to write something that’s do-able. 

HENRY PARKE:  It was an interesting choice, having Berrenger’s Judge narrate the story on-screen, so the story is told almost as an interview, or in the context of a law-school lecture.  What made you think to do it that way?

DAVID DECOTEAU: That was Rolfe.  I wanted to incorporate a judge into the movie as more of a story-teller.  And Berenger has had his experience playing real characters over the years, and he just had that kind of authority, that gravitas, to make that work.  We did rewrite that a little, so he had more to say and more to do once we had Berenger. 

HENRY PARKE:  And it was great to get him just coming off his HATFIELDS & MCCOYS Emmy.

DAVID DECOTEAU: It was a real coupe.  He really liked the material; he really liked that I was coming to him, so he didn’t have to get on a plane.  He had just finished SNIPER 5 in Bulgaria, and really didn’t want to get onto a plane anytime soon, and I made the offer, “Hey, I’ll come to you.”  It was tough for him to say no, and we went right out to South Carolina, where he lives.  We shot him there, with his judge’s robes, and the glasses are from when he played Teddy Roosevelt in ROUGH RIDERS.  He brought them with him, and said, “These seem appropriate.  What do you think?” 

HENRY PARKE:  I think this is your eighth time directing Eric Roberts.     

DAVID DECOTEAU: Eric and his wife Eliza are good friends of mine.  I worked with Eric like twelve years ago on a movie called THE WOLVES OF WALL STREET – not to be confused with THE WOLF OF WALL STREET.  And we had a great time working together, so whenever I have anything appropriate for him, I give him a call.  He’s a really nice guy, a solid actor.  I loved him in STAR 80 and RUNAWAY TRAIN – just really great performances.  Same thing with Willy McNamara – we’ve done a lot of films together, and he’s happy to be there. 

HENRY PARKE:  Ashley Hayes, a stunning redhead, is the only woman in the film.

DAVID DECOTEAU: She was my Bonnie in BONNIE & CLYDE, and I like working with her.  She’s an up-and-comer, relatively new, and I want to help her any way I can, because she’s a star, and will probably be taking off soon.  I got her two Lionsgate movies.  She’s also managed by James Garner’s daughter, Gigi Garner, a very good friend of mine.  One thing about Ashley is she’s timeless; she doesn’t have a modern look.  That’s why I thought she would be great for that part.

HENRY PARKE:  Almost all of the action takes place in one location, the farm, over a brief period of time – there are obvious parallels to THE PETRIFIED FOREST, DESPERATE HOURS or NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.  What are the pluses and minuses to that sort of structure?

DAVID DECOTEAU:  It becomes more of a play, especially if there is more dialogue and less action.  Your canvas is smaller, more contained.  But that hotbox environment can be used dramatically, too.  It’s also helpful because I was very familiar with that location, because I’d shot a few films there.  And as Rolfe was writing, he was also familiar with it, so he could write for it. 

HENRY PARKE: Did you grow up with westerns?  Which were your favorites as a kid? 

DAVID DECOTEAU:  You know, I was not necessarily a huge fan of westerns, although I did see the classics on television.  My father was actually a full-blooded American Indian.  (Chuckles) But he was a John Wayne fan, and whenever he was seeing a cowboy and Indian movie, he was always rooting for the cowboy.  And he loved Gene Autry movies.  That’s the household I grew up in. 

HENRY PARKE:  What is your tribal affiliation?

 DAVID DECOTEAU: My father, who passed away on New Year’s Eve at the age of 88 was Chippewa. I am an adoptee which qualifies me as 50% native America. My birth heritage is Scandinavian. 

HENRY PARKE:  Do you have any favorite westerns today?

DAVID DECOTEAU:  I love John Wayne.  I loved RED RIVER because it’s interesting and complicated.  I love SHANE.  I love Clint Eastwood’s UNFORGIVEN.  I even like some of the more exploitive ones like CUTTHROATS NINE.  Because I like to mix the genres a little, and I like when something becomes more than one thing.  I liked anything with Lee Van Cleef.  Jimmy Stewart.  I like Leone, especially casting Henry Fonda as a bad guy – that was brilliant.  I like it when it’s unexpected and complicated and androgynous.  The genre is so open and so different that you can wrap a western around any story.  That’s why I want to make more westerns.  I did a western, a very quick micro-budget western called 1313 BILLY THE KID, and I really enjoyed it.  But the original plan was to shoot that in Almeria, Spain.  And if I am going to do another western I would like to do it in Almeria’s standing backlots.  It’s nice to make those movies on sacred ground; it kind of makes everyone get into the moment. 

HENRY PARKE:  It’s like going to Monument Valley.

DAVID DECOTEAU:  Exactly!

SPAGHETTI WESTERN LUNCH CRAMS ‘EM IN LIKE PEPPERONI!

Robert Woods, Brett Halsey, Robert Forster

This past Wednesday’s ‘A Word on Westerns’ luncheon at the Autry drew an overflow crowd to eat pasta – and the occasional pulled pork sandwich – and to listen to the fond memories of stars of the genre .  After a greeting by Maxine Hansen of Gene Autry Enterprises, host Rob Word introduced Robert Woods and Brett Halsey, who reminisced about their days in the Almeria sagebrush.  Woods is known for films like STARBLACK (1968) and EL PURO (1969) Read my interview with Robert Woods HERE .

Rob Word with Robert Woods

 Brett Hallsey starred in TODAY WE KILL, TOMORROW WE DIE (1968) and ROY COLT AND WINCHESTER JACK (1970) among others, and recently starred in the excellent SCARLET WORM (read my review HERE . )

Brett Halsey

Both men, already established actors in the U.S. when they went overseas in the 1960s, had trouble hanging onto their identities, or rather, their names.  Robert kept seeing his last name change from Woods to Wood and back again, at the whim of the filmmakers.  Brett, disappointed in a movie, appeared under the pseudonym Montgomery Ford, and when the movie was a hit, Montgomery Ford became his name on everything.   The discussions were all videotaped by Rob Word’s crew, and you’ll be seeing clips here as soon as they are posted. 

If things go as planned, come September both men will be back in Almeria, Spain, to shoot RESURRECTION OF EL PURO.  Woods would also soon be in Italy to film THE SONS OF NICHOLAS Z, a ‘romanzo Calabrese.’ 

Also speaking were Tom Betts of the site Westerns…AllItaliana,  discussing the challenges on tracking down movies that were often never officially released in the U.S.  Bill Lustig, president of Blue Underground described his adventures acquiring and restoring the best of the genre – on Saturday Courtney Joyner and I were providing commentary for his newest release, COMPANEROS from Sergio Corbucci.  The last man to take the microphone was Martin Kove, of KARATE KID fame, an actor passionately committed to the western who will soon be seen in SIX GUN SAVIOR.  Though never having made westerns in Europe, he told a very funny story about meeting Sergio Leone, and another about the lengths he went to interest Israeli filmmakers in doing a western. 

Top row - Martin Kove, Rob Word, Robert Woods, Brett Hallsey

front - Tom Betts, Bill Lustig

Also in the audience were Robert Forster, Darby Hinton, who played Dan’l’s son Israel in DANIEL BOONE, and is soon to be seen in TEXAS RISING, and Butch Patrick, little Eddie Munster, who also did DEATH VALLEY DAYS, BONANZA, RAWHIDE and two GUNSMOKES.  July’s Third Wednesday of the Month will focus on comic books and Westerns, and I’ll have details as the date gets closer.

JUST BACK FROM ‘COMPANEROS’ COMMENTARY

BLUE UNDERGROUND has again flattered C. Courtney Joyner and myself by inviting us to do a commentary track on their new version of Sergio Corbucci’s ‘COMPANEROS’. Great fun, watching a one of Corbucci’s finest works, with flawless picture and audio quality, clever plotting, and terrific actors like Franco Nero, Tomas Milian, Jack Palance, Fernando Rey and Iris Berben.

THAT'S A WRAP!

It's three A.M.!  I'm hittin' the hay!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright June 2014 by Henry C. Parke - All Rights Reserved

GERMAN WESTERN ‘GOLD’ REVIEWED, PLUS ‘DOC HOLLIDAY’S REVENGE’ FIRST LOOK!

GOLD – A Film Review

When I heard that a new German-made Western had just been completed, “…visions of Winnetou danced in my head!”  Though most Americans are not aware of it, Germany has a long history of American Western story-telling, Karl May being the most popular Western writer in the world, easily eclipsing American Western writers from Max Brand to Louis L’amour with his non-English-language following. 

Emily and Carl

German Western film, likewise not well known in the States, has been tremendously influential.  The success of a dozen Karl May Western films made in the early 1960s, starring French actor Pierre Brice as Apache Chief Winnetou, opposite American and British actors like Lex Barker, Rod Cameron and Stewart Granger, were such a smash that they inspired the Italians to create the Spaghetti Western genre.  

GOLD, written and directed by Thomas Arslan, could not be further from the melodrama of WINNETOU, but that is by design.  It is a movie that strives for realism and naturalism.  Filmed where the tale is set, in British Columbia, Canada, GOLD surprisingly is not a gold-field story, ala the recent miniseries KLONDIKE, but a tale of people on their way to the gold-fields.  Near the turn of the century, when an improbably large nugget is found by a panner, Argonauts head for the Klondike, and fortune, anyway they can.   (When I saw Indians waiting at the railroad's end, wrapped in blankets with the distinctive design of the Hudson Bay Company, I knew that production designer Reinheld Blaschke knew his stuff. )

German-born Wilhelm Lasser (Peter Kurth), an experienced guide, advertises his services to other German-Americans, assembles five prospective prospectors and, with wrangler Carl Boehmer (Marco Mandic), sets out for glory. Among them is Emily Meyer, who has tired of being a house-maid in New York.  She’s played by Nina Hoss, a major star in German cinema who, appropriate to the role, bears a striking resemblance to Lillian Gish, who frequently played pioneers for D. W. Griffith; not by chance, Hoss wears her hair in the same distinctive manner.

Tension builds, a bit, as the travelers begin to suspect that wagon-master Lasser is no master at all.  He becomes upset when they reach a river that’s not on his map.  It’s almost as if he’s never been there before.  In fact, he’s greatly exaggerated his experience, and it is only through the assistance of the occasional Indian, for a five-dollar payment, that they stay anywhere near on the path.  Further, as we see at around the half-hour mark, in a scene that calls to mind Hemingway’s THE KILLERS, a pair of riders is tracking the group, or rather the wrangler.  It’s a scene with both menace and humor, and it’s about all we see of either element. Because the major flaw of this film is that, beautifully made though it is, not nearly enough happens.  

There is hardship aplenty, but damned little conflict.  The characters are so stoic that they never get impassioned enough about anything to get the viewer involved.  Cinematographer Patrick Orth makes the most of the varied and beautiful forests and vistas of British Columbia – much of the photography is spectacular, especially a scene in a forest of barren trees.  But there are so few close-ups that the viewer rarely has the sense that he knows what a character is thinking.  While the wide-screen process – the image here is more than twice as wide as it is tall – is perfect for landscape, when it comes to actors, as Leone taught us, you have to jam the camera all the way into the center of a face to fill the screen.  We never get half that close.  And I don’t ever recall seeing a movie where more screen-time is spent watching a small group of riders ride across the screen, over and over again.

In a ‘Ten Little Indians’ manner, their numbers drop.  Some give up; one goes mad, strips off his clothes and runs pell-mell into the forest.  In one of the most affecting scenes, a man’s injured leg must be amputated before gangrene sets in.  The use of sound rather than gory visuals is evocative and effective.  Finally we get a sense of passion, and the stoicism is truly moving.  But sadly we quickly soon lose him.  We also get one good shoot-out, but it’s a long time coming.     

If you’ve seen MEEK’S CUTOFF (2010), starring Michelle Greene, Bruce Greenwood and Paul Dano, this may all sound familiar; that film also involves an incompetent wagon-master leading a group of pioneers, and getting them lost.  But while MEEK’S had Rod Rondeaux as the menacing Indian following them, and a dramatic payoff, in GOLD, once we meet the men following the wrangler, they disappear until too late in the story to save it. 

The score by Dylan Carson is portentous and effective, but is often missing in scenes where it could have helped.  And not one of the voice-actors chosen to dub the film into English uses a German accent, a strange choice considering how much their ‘Germanness’ is a part of their character, and how everyone they meet immediately knows they are German.

GOLD will be available in May from Screen Media Films.

‘DOC HOLLIDAY’S REVENGE’ FIRST LOOK!

June 17^th will see the release of DOC HOLLIDAY’S REVENGE, from two very talented and prolific filmmakers, writer Rolfe Kanefsky and director/producer David DeCoteau (pronounced ‘Dakota’).  It’s exec produced by Barry Barnholtz (see my interview HERE  ) and Jeffrey Schenck, who previously produced WYATT EARP’S REVENGE among many other Westerns. 

The film features the very talented and busy Eric Roberts, and Tom Berenger, who won the Outstanding Supporting Actor EMMY for 2012’s HATFIELDS & MCCOYS. 

I’ll be sharing my interview with Kanefsky soon, but in the meantime, here’s the first trailer.

ANTHONY MANN RETROSPECTIVE ENDS SUNDAY 3/30

The final program of the UCLA/Billy Wilder Theater two-month retrospective entitled Dark City, Open Country: The Films of Anthony Mann, will be MAN OF THE WEST (1958) and THE TIN STAR (1957).

SEE YOU AT THE ‘COWBOY FESTIVAL’ APRIL 26 & 27!

After attending the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival and covering it for the Round-up these last three years, this year I’ll be a participant!  At the OutWest Buckaroo Book Shop, in the heart of Veluzat's Melody Ranch’s fabulous Western street, I’ll be moderating a couple of authors’ panels.  On Saturday from 1:30 to 2, the topic is THE WEST IMAGINED, and I’ll be talking with Western novelists Edward M. Erdelac, author of COYOTE’S TRAIL; Jim Christina, author of THE DARK ANGEL; and C. Courtney Joyner, author of SHOTGUN.

And on Sunday, from 1:30 to 2, the topic is THE WEST LIVED, and I’ll be talking to non-fiction writers Jerry Nickle, great-grandson of the Sundance Kid; JR Sanders, author of SOME GAVE ALL; and Peter Sherayko, author of TOMBSTONE – THE GUNS AND GEAR. 

On Saturday at 12:30, and Sunday at 2:30, I’ll be chatting with Miles Swarthout, who wrote the screenplay for THE SHOOTIST from his father, Glendon Swarthout’s novel.  Miles is also involved with the upcoming movie THE HOMESMAN, directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones, from a novel by Glendon Swarthout.  You can learn all about the events at the Buckaroo Book Shop by going HERE.  

ADOPT A BURRO AT TRONA CENTENNIAL MARCH 28-30!

The mining town of Trona in San Bernadino County’s Searles Valley marks its first century with a historical symposium, parade, car show, street fair, and on-site Bureau Of Land Management Wild Burro adoption!  Learn more by calling 760-372-4091.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ‘RED SUN’ STAR URSULA ANDRESS!

Ursula Andress & Alain Delon in RED SUN

The first gorgeous Bond Girl turns 78 today! She starred in THREE Westerns -- RED SUN, 4 FOR TEXAS, and mexico on fire -- but to me she’ll always be SHE! When I was ten or eleven, and madly in love with her, she was in New York for the premiere. I had this goofy idea to send flowers to her hotel – I had no idea what it would cost – I called MGM’s New York office to find out where she was staying, AND THEY PUT HER ON THE PHONE TO ME! I’ve never fully recovered. Happy Birthday!

THAT’S A WRAP!

Have a great week! 

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright March 2014 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved

MARYLAND WESTERN ‘DAY OF THE GUN’ REVIEWED, PLUS ‘STARDUST COWBOYS’ TICKET GIVEAWAY!

MARYLAND-LENSED WESTERN ‘DAY OF THE GUN’ – A Film Review

Eric Roberts as Tanner

Over the years we’ve gotten used to seeing Westerns made in Spain and Italy; in Germany and Croatia – the Karl May films; Australia and New Zealand; and even the Canary Islands – okay, just once, with TAKE A HARD RIDE.  But somehow, making a Western in Maryland seems the most bizarre of all.  Yet Maryland-based filmmaker Wayne Shipley and his One-Eyed Horse Productions has recently completed their second Western feature there, DAY OF THE GUN.  GUN and his previous feature, ONE-EYED HORSE, along with several shorts, have all been set in the fictional frontier town of Singletree, Montana, and for this newest film, his crew actually ventured to Montana, though the vast majority was shot in that neighbor to New England, Maryland.   

For Shipley’s most ambitious, and I would assume most costly, film to date, he has reached outside of his stock-company of actors to Hollywood, and hired Eric Roberts to play a crucial role.  The story concerns a widow, Maggie Carter (LaDon Hart Hall), who has taken over the reins of the family spread from her late husband.  An opinionated and aggressive woman, she is not welcomed to the fold by the other local cattle ranchers, and when one of them (Jim Osborn) starts fencing in open range to combat rustling, a line has been crossed which she cannot forgive: a range war is inevitable.  Into this battleground comes her son (Ned Carter), still smarting from disfiguring face scars; and her daughter (Rachel McCall), just home from an eastern college.  And the daughter’s romantic interest is none other than the son (Jason Brown) of the fence-raising cattleman.  The son was once Maggie’s son’s best friend, and even introduced him to the girl who took a broken bottle to his face.

This is an unusually big story for recent westerns, especially low-budget ones, a throwback to family-centered Western stories like BROKEN LANCE and FLAMING STAR and TV’s BONANZA and BIG VALLEY.  Shipley succeeds in making the production seem big enough.  The Western town is extensive and well-detailed, the rolling stock and horse-flesh substantial.  The location is attractively lush and green, and the gun-action is long and loud, well-staged, with plenty of participants.  The weapons and, by-and-large the wardrobe, are attractive and, with the exception of some of the ladies’ hats, historically accurate.  

Cinematographer and editor Jeff Herberger frames his shots to good effect – sometimes spectacular effect in the Montana sequences – and edits well.  Standout sequences include an extended shoot-out with the rustlers, and an unusual climax filmed on a mountain-top.

Writer- director Shipley stages the action well.  His manner of writing dialogue is not the naturalistic style mostly favored today, but a much more literary one.  That calls for precise delivery to not sound stilted, and not all of the cast is up to that challenge.  And there is one bit of casting for a central role that seems so off-the-mark that it’s hard for the film to recover.  But when, late in the story, Eric Roberts appears as a hired gun with a personal stake in the events, the professionalism of the project is kicked up several notches. 

Very recently completed, DAY OF THE GUN is making the rounds of film festivals, and we’ll let you know when it’s available.  To learn more about One-Eyed Horse Productions, HERE’s the link to their site.  

WIN TICKETS TO SEE ‘THE STARDUST COWBOYS’ MARCH 20^TH!

The Stardust Cowboys, having played Western Swing at concerts, rodeos, conventions, fairs and cowboy gatherings all over Northern California for two decades, will make their much-anticipated premiere Los Angeles-area appearance on Thursday, March 20^th.  It’s part of the OutWest Concert Series at the Repertory East Playhouse, at 24266 Main Street, Newhall, CA 91321.   The Stardust Cowboys draw their inspiration from the fabled Bob Wills who, with his Texas Playboys, invented Western Swing, that delightful mash-up of cowboy and big band music.  They play a mix of traditional western songs as well as their own originals, and their live shows are full of humor and high energy.

You can buy tickets for $20 by calling OutWest at 661-255-7087. This concert is part of the OutWest series -- in case you haven’t noticed, we have a new sponsor here at the Round-up, the OutWest Western Boutique and Cultural Center in Newhall – just go to the top left corner of the Round-up, click their logo, and you’ll be magically transported to their wonderful store.  The doors open at 7 p.m., and the concert begins at 8, and Bobbi Jean Bell, purveyor of OutWest, tells me that Newhall is having their 3^rd Thursday of the month block party, SENSES (as in delighting the same), so you might want to arrive early for dinner from the food trucks, live music – and to find parking.   Bobbi also tells me that if you’re coming to the concert, you might want to dress up!  SCTV will be filming the show, and you just may be on TV! 

So you say you’d like to win a free pair of tickets to see The Stardust Cowboys?  Here’s what you need to do.  Number one, before you enter, make sure you live someplace where you can actually get to the concert from (I just checked, and right now folks are reading the Round-up in Thailand, The Netherlands and China, but I doubt most can make it here).  Number two, send an email to swansongmail@sbcglobal.net, with ‘Stardust Cowboys ticket giveaway’ in the subject line.  Make sure to include your name, snail-mail address, and phone number.  And here’s the challenging part: name the band leader other than Bob Wills, who was also called The King of Western Swing, and who used to be a movie stand-in for Roy Rogers!  Please be sure to send your entry by 11 pm Saturday, March 15th.  The winner will be selected randomly from all correct entries.  And below is a sneak preview of The Stardust Cowboys. 

SEE ‘3:10 TO YUMA’ MON. AT AERO WITH DIR.  JAMES MANGOLD

Monday, March 10^th, at 7:30 p.m., you can see one of the best and most important Westerns of recent years, 3:10 TO YUMA (2007), to be followed by a discussion with director James Mangold, moderated by Geoff Boucher.  The film stars Russell Crowe as an outlaw being transported to jail, and Christian Bale as the failing farmer who agrees to put Crowe on the train of the title, no matter what the cost.  Also starring are Ben Foster (who’s so good he steals the picture) and Peter Fonda.  One of those rare cases where the remake is comparable to the original, the Elmore Leonard story was first filmed in 1957, with Delmer Daves directing Glenn Ford in the Crowe role, and Van Heflin in the Bale role.  Go HERE for more information, and tickets. 

PAPERBACK SHOW MOVES TO GLENDALE!

DO go to the Paperback Collectors Show on Sunday, March 16^th, but DO NOT go to that hotel on Sepulveda where it’s been for a decade – now it’s at the Glendale Civic Auditorium, 1401 N. Verdugo Road, Glendale, CA 91208.   Parking is free, admission is five clams.  This is a great annual event, and a wonderful opportunity to fill in the gaps in your collection.  This is where I track down all my hard-to-find Luke Shorts and Donald Hamiltons and the like.  You can find not just westerns, but sci-fi, crime, horror, and lots of pulps.  The pristine stuff gets pricey, but speaking as a paperback slob rather than a snob, I’ve never paid more than $2.50 for anything.  Authors will be there to sign your books for free, and while there are no big  western guys, some of the civilian authors of note include Earl ‘The Waltons’ Hamner, George Clayton Jackson, David Gerrold, Ib Melchior, William F. Nolan, Larry Niven, and Harlan Ellison (Harlie will sign two of your books if you buy one from him – and don’t tell him I called him Harlie!) To find the authors signing times, go here: http://la-vintage-paperback-show.com/#sthash.bPAEwAhx.dpbs

ANTHONY MANN RETROSPECTIVE CONTINUES AT BILLY WILDER/UCLA

The two-month retrospective entitled Dark City, Open Country: The Films of Anthony Mann.  Which opened in January at the UCLA Motion Picture & Television Archive at the Billy Wilder Theatre, continues. Best known for his post-war western collaborations with James Stewart at Universal, he also directed many other excellent westerns, as well as gritty crime stories, at all of the major studios as well as the poverty row outfits.  On Wednesday, March 12^th, it’s T-MEN (1947) and RAW DEAL (1948).  March 15^th SIDE STREET (1950) and WINCHESTER ’73 (1950).  March 23^rd THE TALL TARGET (1951) and THE FAR COUNTRY (1954).  And finally, on March 30^th MAN OF THE WEST (1958) and THE TIN STAR (1957).

SANTA CLARITA COWBOY FEST BOOKSIGNERS ANNOUNCED

One of the high points of the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival, which will be April 26 & 27 at Melody Ranch, is the Buckaroo Book Shop, where author of Western fact and fiction will be signing their books and meeting their fans.  The Book Shop is run by the folks at OutWest, and they’ve just finalized their list of authors who’ll be attending.   Cheryl Rogers-Barnett (daughter of Roy and Dale), Margaret Brownley, Jim Christina, Peter Conway, Steve Deming, Edward M. Erdelac, J.P. Gorman, Dale B. Jackson, Jim Jones, C. Courtney Joyner (see my review of his SHOTGUN in next week’s Round-up), Andria Kidd, Antoinette Lane, Jerry Nickle (a descendant of Harry Longabaugh, alias the Sundance Kid), J.R. Sanders, Tony Sanders, Janet Squires, ‘Cowgirl Peg’ Sundberg, Miles Hood Swarthout (who scripted THE SHOOTIST), Rod Thompson, and Nancy Pitchford-Zee.  We’ll have a schedule as the date gets closer.

DESERT PAST COMES ALIVE AT 8^TH ANNUAL ‘VALLECITO DAY’ SAT. MARCH 15

Held at and around the original Vallecito stage station, this one-day event will feature tours, a reenactment of California soldiers’ historic march along the southern Overland Trail at the start of the Civil War, how-to demonstrations for throwing a tomahawk, archery, flint and steel fire making, soap-making and how to cook on an open hearth.  There will be mountain man demonstrations as well.  You are encouraged to come in 1850s and 1860s attire, and encouraged to bring food, as none will be available.  Learn more details, including how to get there. At this link: http://www.co.san-diego.ca.us/parks/press/VallecitoDay.html

 

‘ZORRO’ REBOOT IN THE WORKS AT SONY

 

According to Deadline Hollywood, Chris Boal has been signed to script a new Zorro, to be produced by Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald.  Playwright Boal has lately scripted three upcoming films: sci-fier OLD MAN’S WAR for Paramount, and Viking pic VANGUARD for Wolfgang Peterson, and CESAR for Warner Brothers.

NOT A HALLUCINATION!  NEW VIDEO STORE OPENS IN SHERMAN OAKS, CA!

Just about cracked up the Toyota on the way to Sharky’s when I saw the ‘Grand Opening’ sign!  The new Video Hut at 13326 Burbank Boulevard in Sherman Oaks 91401, has been open just a week, still getting organized, so they don’t have a Westerns section yet.  But a casual glance around showed more than a dozen Western titles, including DJANGO UNCHAINED, new and old TRUE GRIT, A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT, OPEN RANGE, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, SWEETWATER, LAST RITES OF RANSOM PRIDE, GOODNIGHT FOR JUSTICE – MEASURE OF A MAN, GUNDOWN, the HATFIELDS & MCCOYS miniseries, and Fred Olen Ray’s film on the same subject, TWO MULES FOR SISTER SARAH, 3:10 TO YUMA, ACE HIGH, ACES & 8S, APALOOSA, AMERICAN BANDITS – FRANK AND JESSE JAMES, AMERICAN OUTLAWS, BLAZING SADDLES, BROKEN BULLET, and LONE RANGER both for rent and for sale.  I rented DEAD IN TOMBSTONE on BluRay, and will soon have a review (take THAT, Universal, who wouldn’t answer my requests for a review copy!).  They also had multiples of the Oscar pics, and the HUNGER GAMES movies.  They’re open 7 days a week, from ten ‘til midnight, and all rentals are $1.50, $1.62 with tax.  Their phone is 818-994-5878.

THAT'S A WRAP!

Every time someone has a monopoly, the customers get burned.  We saw it when Blockbuster drove the mom and pop stores out of business with their huge selection, then dumped 3/4s of their films.  Blockbuster got killed by Netflix, and now Netflix is dumping tons of their content.  I tried to catch up with Oscar movies through VOD on DirecTV, it worked twice, and then it took 36 hours to download half of 12 YEARS A SLAVE – during which my internet was dead (wish I’d realized the connection sooner).  And have I mentioned lately that DirecTV dropped INSP?  My point is, the more choices we have, the better.  Support your local video store if you still have one!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright March 2014 by Henry C. Parke - All Rights Reserved